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Monday, 28 September 2009

For my final saturday night in central America I went out with some people from the hostel till 4am so I slept for much of my final day. I did manage to see some of the Mexico city marathon though.

For my final, final night I had an expensive dinner in the restaurant at the top of the tower. I didnt take a camera as the rain was hammering down even breaking loose stones off old buildings. Nothing more to add this time, but there wil be other times.

Saturday, 26 September 2009

After getting up early for the tour covering Xochimilco and the Frida Kahlo museum I discovered that it was cancelled so I made my own way to Xochimilco on the metro, I had to change from line 1to line 2 at a station built around a small Aztec sculpture.

I then had to go to the end of the line and take a different train called Tren Ligera. The station was packed with hundreds of teenagers who broke into cheers at intervals. At first I thought something was happening there but the train was equally crowded.

I dint work it out until they all suddenly got off and I noticed the sign for the Azteca Stadium.

Xochimilco was at the end of the line again and I followed the signs down to the docks, which were strangely deserted so I ended up with a boat to myself. The water was completely filled with boats and twqo men ran over them pushing this way and that to create a space for my boat then one of them punted it along.

We passed under a bridge and it became apparent why the docks were empty, everyone was already on the water. There were boats with familiies picnincing, boats with barbecaues, flowers, shops and most of all lots of boats with Mariachi bands. The whole area was divided into islands but disapointingly none appeared to be floating as I had heard.

From there I walked back to the station via a nice park with a pretty church in it.

That should be about it for this trip but Ill see what happens tommorow.

Friday, 25 September 2009

I started today by going to the handicraft market for souveniers as I have bought virtually none so far. From there I walked up to the Diego Rivera museum, which turned out to have just the one mural and from there through La Almeda Park to the Palacio de Belles Artes which had a large selection of murals by different artists. Then it was a short stroll to the Tore Latinoamerica and I thought there would be a nice symetry to viewing a big city fromn above at the start and end of my trip.

The hours are counting down now but I should havea t least one more post as tomorrow I plan to visit the floating markets at Xochimilo.

Thursday, 24 September 2009

This morning I joined a tour to the museum of anthropology, first we went to Catahupec Park and watched a ceremony from Veracruz whee men jump off the top of a pole with ropes tied to them and spiral to the ground, playing flutes the whole time.

In the museum we visited the rooms on the early prehistory of the region Teotihuacan, the Aztecs and the Maya.

It was good to have a guide but we didnt see everything so I stayed for the afternoon as well and went to the sections on the Olmecs and on the cultures to the north in areas I never got to.

Wednesday, 23 September 2009

Today I joined a tour to Teotihuacan, the architecture and murals were worth seeing and the whole city is massive but for me the real interest was that it was the first city in the region and influenced everywhere else Ive seen.

First we visited Tlateloco where the last Aztec leader was captured. This is known as the plaza of three cultures because the pyramid is surrounded by both modern and colonial buildings.

In the morning we went to the pyramids of the sun and the moon
At lunch we visited an obsidian workshop and our bus driver joined the band in the restaurant.

Afterwards we went to a palace where the rulers of the city once lived.
The tour finished with a brief visit to the Virgin of Guadelupe which disappointingly is kept in a 960s concrete building that looks like a conference centre and has moving walkways to carry people past the picture. The older basillica is still standing but leans so much it is no longer used.